Amid concerns over the new coronavirus strain, India will be extending the suspension of flights from the United Kingdom till January 7.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, "Decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to and from the UK till 7 January 2021. Thereafter, a strictly regulated resumption will take place for which details will be announced shortly."
On Tuesday, a total of six UK returnees were found to be positive with the new variant genome, the central government had announced, adding that all these persons have been kept in single room isolation in designated health care facilities.
Decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to & from the UK till 7 January 2021.
Thereafter strictly regulated resumption will take place for which details will be announced shortly.— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) December 30, 2020
These were the first cases to be reported by the country that has the second-highest number of cases after the US. The British government had recently announced that the newly identified strain of the virus found in their population is up to 70 per cent more transmissible.
The UK coronavirus strain in India
It is important to note that the presence of the new UK variant has already been reported by Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.
Pursuant to the announcement by the British government, the Indian government had taken cognisance of the reports of mutant variant and put in place a pro-active and preventive strategy to detect and contain the mutant variant. It included the temporary suspension of all flights coming from UK with effect from the midnight of December 23 till 31.
From November 25 to December 23 midnight, about 33,000 passengers disembarked at various Indian airports from the UK. All these passengers are being tracked and subjected by states and UTs to RT-PCR tests.
